Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Chunfen

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Chinese
  
春分

Hanyu Pinyin
  
chūnfēn

Vietnamese alphabet
  
xuân phân

Literal meaning
  
vernal equinox

Bopomofo
  
ㄔㄨㄣ ㄈㄣ

Chữ Hán
  
春分

The traditional East Asian calendars divide a year into 24 solar terms. Chūnfēn, Shunbun, Chunbun, or Xuân phân is the 4th solar term. It begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 0° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 15°. It more often refers in particular to the day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 0°. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around 20 March and ends around 4 April (5 April East Asia time).

Pentads

Each solar term can be divided into 3 pentads (候). They are: first pentad (初候), second pentad (次候) and last pentad (末候). Pentads in Chunfen include:

China
  • First pentad: 玄鳥至, 'The dark birds arrive'. 'Dark bird' in this case refers to swallows, which are also making their northward migration.
  • Second pentad: 雷乃發聲, 'Thunder sounds', referring to the onset of spring thunderstorms.
  • Last pentad: 始電, 'Lightning begins'. This refers to thunderstorms as well, but also to the gradual lengthening of daytime, and the prevalence of sunlight.
    • Japan

    A pentad as follows was referred to Japanese traditional calendar presented in a smaller, easy to use, format.

  • First pentad: Suzume hajimete sukuu (雀始巣), 'Sparrow begins holding a nest'.
  • Second pentad: Sakura hajimete hiraku (桜始開), 'Cherry blossoms open for the first time'.
  • Last pentad: Kaminari sunawachi koeo hassu (雷乃発声), 'Distant thunder start to sound'.

    • References

    Chunfen Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA